


Lessons Learned

by squirtturtle665



Series: Inception Bingo 2018 [1]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: BAMF Arthur, Declarations Of Love, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Friends With Benefits, M/M, Rescue Mission
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 06:37:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15455496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squirtturtle665/pseuds/squirtturtle665
Summary: Many times in his career, Arthur has woken up with his head on a desk in a warehouse surrounded by piles of papers. Today would’ve been like any of those times if it weren’t for two voicemails from Eames that nearly stop Arthur’s heart for drastically different reasons





	Lessons Learned

**Author's Note:**

> For the Friends with Benefits and Rescue Mission squares on my bingo card (FWB will come in part two) Happy Inceptiversary!

Many times in his career, Arthur has woken up with his head on a desk in a warehouse surrounded by piles of papers. Today would’ve been like any of those times if it weren’t for two voicemails from Eames that nearly stop Arthur’s heart for drastically different reasons.

The first voicemail came very early in the morning, around 4:00. Arthur listens to it three hours later when his eyes are still clouded with sleep.

“Arthur, darling, when are you coming home? I thought I heard you come in, but I must’ve been mistaken because you’re not here, and now I’m sad.” Eames yawns. “I hope you didn’t work yourself to sleep again. Alright, love, call me when you get this.”

In the comfort of the solitude he’s in, Arthur smiles. Leave it to Eames to sacrifice his own beloved sleep just because he’s “sad” Arthur isn’t home yet. Arthur can picture walking in the house and finding Eames asleep on the couch with his phone clutched in his hand. If it’s like other times, Arthur will curl up right next to Eames, and they’ll sleep for another few hours before Arthur is woken up by light kisses on his forehead.

But then Arthur notices the second voicemail. This one came in around 5:30, only a half hour ago.

“Remember when I thought I heard you coming home?”

Already, Arthur notices an incredible difference in the Eames in this voicemail compared to the Eames in the first one. He’s out of breath, he’s whispering, and he sounds _terrified_. Arthur stops packing up his things and continues to listen.

“Turns out, it was people sent from the last job to kill us, but they’re horrible at their job because I’m not dead yet. Shot up, yes, but not dead.” Arthur immediately reaches for his totem to see if he’s still sleeping. He’s not. “They’re still in the house… don’t know why… looking for something… called Ariadne… get you… love you….”

The first thing Arthur thinks after listening to the second voicemail is that a half hour is a long time for someone who’s been “shot up” to still be alive. After that, he doesn’t allow himself to think. He grabs his Glock from his desk and his spare from the drawer because, as much as he wishes, this isn’t a dream. He can’t conjure up guns left and right. Arthur is fully prepared to walk into their house, all angry love, firing at anyone who stands between him and Eames.

He puts his car keys in his pocket, silently cursing himself for parking down the block as he rushes out of the warehouse. A sour feeling looms in the pit of Arthur’s stomach that he can’t focus on for too long because he almost runs right into Ariadne when he rounds the corner.

“You got his voicemail?” she asks, out of breath.

Arthur sees Ariadne’s car parked a few yards away. “Yeah, let’s go. You’re driving.” He rushes ahead and notices Cobb and Yusuf in a car parked behind Ariadne’s. “Why aren’t they already at Eames’?”

They both get in the car, and then Ariadne just sits there. Arthur doesn’t understand why she isn’t speeding towards Eames’ yet until she responds to his question.

“They have to follow us because you’re the only one who knows where he lives.”  

“Shit.” Arthur tries not to think about how much time they could’ve saved if he would’ve just answered his phone. “Okay, it’s on the corner of Westmeath and Hudson. Big blue house, _very_ ‘Eames’. You won’t miss it. It’s ten minutes away, but you need to get there in five.”

Arthur speaks so quickly that he’s not sure if Ari can even understand the nonsense coming out of his mouth. She responds by gunning it, and Arthur takes that as good of a sign as any and dials Eames’ number. When he doesn’t answer, Arthur slams the side of his fist into the window. His mind wanders to what it would mean if they got to the house to find Eames dead. For good measure, he slams his fist one more time against the window to feel some other pain than those thoughts.

“We all wanted to wait for you to decide,” Ariadne says cautiously, “but maybe it’s time you call an ambulance.”

Arthur redials Eames instead. “Yusuf will be able to keep him somewhat stable while we decide what to do.”

It’s a known rule on the team that if anyone gets in trouble outside of a job, no one is to call the police or an ambulance unless they’re on the verge of dying to prevent unnecessary questions. They’ve always wanted to avoid cops coming into their houses or apartments and finding a PASIV or job files that would end up incriminating them.

It’s never been like this before, though. None of them had ever been shot at without another team member being there.

“Yusuf is a chemist, not a doctor, Arthur,” Ariadne argues, momentarily moving into oncoming traffic to dodge a semi.

“He’s had medical training, and he’s the only option we have right now.” When Eames doesn’t pick up again, Arthur immediately redials. “Dammit, Eames, come on.”

Finally, after what feels like a lifetime, Arthur gets a response on the other line. “Arthur,” Eames says, voice raspy. The fondness and pain in his voice make Arthur’s heart lurch.

“Eames?” Arthur says frantically. “Eames, oh my God. We’re almost to the house, okay?”

Arthur glances over at Ariadne, and she steps on the gas even harder, unaffected by honking from cars she blows by.

Eames clears his throat, but Arthur can still tell how weak his voice is when he says, “They’re still here. Making a lot of fucking noise, too.”

Arthur tries to hide his happiness from knowing that he’ll get to rip apart the people who hurt Eames. “Okay, we’ll take care of them. Eames, listen to me. You have to tell me how bad it is; I need to know if I should call an ambulance.”

“Arthur…,” Ariadne warns.

“It’s bad,” Eames admits. “I’ve been in and out. A lot of blood. Not enough for you to call an ambulance. I might even sneak downstairs to try and get some shots off.”

“Don’t you dare. Eames, I swear to fucking God I’ll kill you myself.” Arthur hears Eames’ laugh turn into a cough and then a wince. “What room are you in?”

“Ours. I’ve made a right bloody mess on the carpet. Literally.”

“The carpet is the least of my concerns. Just hold on for me, okay? We all know you’re tough; you have nothing to prove. We’re almost there. I love you.”

Eames reciprocates the ‘I love you’ before Arthur hangs up. He starts to allow the anger to swirl through him like a tornado.

“You’re calling one, right?” Ariadne asks, referring to the ambulance.

“Eames said not to.”

“Arthur, Eames has been shot. Multiple times. Do you really think he’s in the right state of mind to make a decision like that?”

“He just has to hold on until we get him to the hospital.”

She turns onto Eames’ street. “And if he doesn’t?”

“Don’t go there, Ariadne.” Arthur sees that all the blinds have been drawn, and he notes this as both a good thing and a bad thing. “Drive past his house, turn right, and park on the opposite side of the street. That’ll give us some distance.”

Ariadne does as Arthur says, and Cobb pulls up right behind them. As Arthur gets out of the car, he’s already formulating a plan in his head that gets Yusuf up to Eames as quickly and cleanly as possible.

“No hospital?” Yusuf asks.

Arthur shakes his head, sticking his spare gun in his waistband. “I talked to Eames. He sounded bad but not bad enough. Yusuf, he’ll be up the stairs in the bedroom on the left. All you have to do is get to him; we’ll do the rest,” he explains, nodding to Ari and Cobb.

“Do we know how many people we’re dealing with in there?” Cobb asks.

“Eames said he took out two,” Arthur responds.

“When I talked to him, he said there might be four or five more,” Ariadne adds.

“Okay, Ari and Yusuf go around back. That’ll give you the best access to the stairs.” Arthur reaches into his pockets and pulls out a set of keys. He picks a specific one and hands it to Yusuf. “This one opens the back door. Cobb and I will go to the front. Wait for us to get inside first, then go in quietly and shoot to kill.”

Ariadne gives Arthur a blank stare. “Wait, why do you have-,”

Yusuf starts to lead her away. “Not now, Ari, let’s go. Be safe everyone.”

Arthur and Cobb start heading up the other side of the street. Arthur doesn’t take his eyes off of Eames’ house, _his_ house. Will they ever be able to feel safe in it again? If Eames dies, will Arthur be able to handle living in it by himself? What if Eames is already dead and none of these questions even matter?

“What do you think they’re searching for in there?” Cobb asks, snapping Arthur out of his thoughts. “Why not just kill Eames and leave?”

Arthur appreciates that Cobb isn’t trying to comfort him or give him false hope that Eames will be alive. “I’ve been wondering that, too,” he says. “But, honestly, I don’t care. They’ll all be dead in two minutes anyway.”

Arthur ignores the raised eyebrow Cobb gives him when he reaches into a flower pot to pull out the spare key for the front door. The problem is that the key has always been buried under the surface of the dirt, but Arthur finds it on the surface. Someone had already dug it out.

“Let me get this straight: You keep your spare key to the _front door_ in the flower pot right next to the _front door_?” Arthur had asked Eames when he first moved in.

“Yes, but that’s the point, darling,” There had been a wide smile on Eames’ face that hadn’t left since Arthur walked through the door with all his things. “It’s so obvious that no one will ever think to look there.”

Could they have been so caught up in each other that they forgot the dangers of their jobs?

Yes.

There’s a dangerous sense of safety Arthur feels when he’s with Eames. It’s like he’s in a state of delirium where nothing can hurt him and where nothing can go wrong. The world dissolves, and it’s just him and Eames. Arthur gets lost in Eames for days on end until he wakes up and worries he’s made a mistake.

Well, here’s Arthur waking up, ~~worrying~~ knowing he made a mistake. Whether that mistake is as simple as the key or as complex as Eames, Arthur can’t tell.

“What’s wrong?” Cobb asks from behind Arthur.

“They walked right through the front door,” Arthur mutters, pocketing the key. He turns the doorknob, and it twists, confirming Arthur’s thoughts. He has one hand on the door, one on his gun, and he turns his head to Cobb. “On me. Ready?”

Cobb nods, and Arthur pushes the door open.

He swings immediately to the left and shoots a man standing in the living room. The man’s blood paints the cream-colored walls, and he crumples to the floor. Arthur puts one more bullet in him for good measure. He glances over at Cobb, and the both of them share a look that says, “That was too easy.”

Two men rush down the hallway from the kitchen and begin firing at Arthur. He ducks in time and the mirror on the wall behind him shatters. Letting his anger boil over, Arthur begins shooting without aiming or calculating while Cobb disarms one of the men, knocking him out on the head with his own gun.

Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur can see Ariadne and Yusuf entering the house from the back door. Still trying to dodge the bullets of the man still standing, Arthur makes a split-second decision.

“Ari!” he calls over the sound of gunshots. “Go left, check the basement!”

Just as Arthur predicted, the man turns his head slightly, taking his focus off of Arthur. Arthur seizes the opportunity and puts three bullets in his chest, dropping him to the ground. Arthur hears Cobb shoot the man he knocked out.

When all is over, there are numerous holes in the walls, broken glass on the wood floor, and the smell of blood in the air. Arthur doesn’t care. All of that is replaceable; Eames isn’t.

“I’ll go with Ariadne,” Cobb says, a little breathless.

Arthur nods. “Yeah, okay. I’m going to check the rest of this level.”

Cobb goes off toward the basement, and Arthur methodically goes into each room on the main level, gun ready for anything. Each room he goes into seems to be more overturned than the one before it. His pulse pounds in his ears as he checks for anything out of place or any indication of what these guys are looking for.

He doesn’t get very far as gunshots ring out from the basement. Arthur hurries down the basement stairs to find two more men dead on the floor. Still, he holds his gun up as he turns the corner. When all Arthur sees is Cobb sitting on the couch and Ari pressing her hand against his arm, Arthur finally lowers his gun.

“What happened?” Arthur asks.

“He got shot,” Ariadne responds. “What else does it look like?”

Cobb winces when Ari puts more pressure on his arm. “I’m fine,” he insists. “I think we found what they were after,” he says, nodding toward the wall behind Arthur.

Arthur turns around and when he sees the open door, his heart drops. Arguably the most secure and unopenable room in their house has clearly been opened. The room acts as a safe for the PASIV and has a lock as well as a numbered code needed to open it. The PASIV is open, too, with its cords all pulled out and ready to use.

“Goddammit,” Arthur mutters.

It would’ve been easy enough for someone to find the key in the house, and considering the mess upstairs, that’s probably what happened. Only Arthur and Eames knew the code, though.  

“Is everyone dead down there?” Yusuf shouts from upstairs. “Because I’m having some problems up here.”

Without another glance at Ariadne and Cobb, Arthur bounds up the stairs two at a time to meet Yusuf at the top.

“Is he alive?” Arthur asks, already starting up the next set of stairs to the second level. He notices two more dead bodies at the top, and he assumes they’re the ones that Eames took care of before he got shot. 

“Barely,” Yusuf says.

Barely, but still alive.

Still alive.

Arthur keeps repeating this to himself when he walks down the hall to their bedroom, but nothing could prepare him for seeing Eames, clothed only by a pair of boxers and a t-shirt, laying in blood. Arthur stops dead in the doorway, staring in shock. Yusuf pushes past him and kneels down next to Eames.

“He got shot three times,” Yusuf starts to explain. “Once in his arm, twice in his leg. I rummaged through your bathroom and found enough wrap to stop the bleeding for now, but it won’t last long. There are three exit wounds, so none of the bullets are stuck – Arthur, are you even listening?”

Arthur is listening, but he can’t take his eyes off of Eames’ chest, can’t stop watching his slow, ragged breaths.

He’s barely alive.

Barely, but still alive.

Still alive.

Before Arthur even realizes, Yusuf has a hold of his arms and is guiding him over to the bed, encouraging him to sit down. Arthur’s eyes never leave Eames’ chest. He’s worried that the second he stops looking, Eames will stop breathing. He shakes the irrationality quickly and turns half of his attention to Yusuf.

“I’m worried about how much blood he’s lost, so I called Nina,” Yusuf continues. “She’s on her way over. If she can’t stitch him up here, he’s going to the hospital.”

Arthur nods. Nina is good, one of the best medics in the dreamshare community. They’re lucky she isn’t out of the country. She’ll be able to do it. Eames will be fine, and if Arthur doesn’t keep convincing himself of this, he’ll break.

“Has he been awake?” Arthur questions.

“He was awake when I got here, asked me to help him get up so he could join in on the action. He also asked for you, but he’s been out since then.”

Arthur leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He’s utterly overwhelmed, unable to process what’s going on around him. His favorite person in the world is on the floor, barely alive, and there’s nothing he can do about it.

“How is he?” Ariadne asks, walking into the room with Cobb trailing behind her.

“He’s hanging on,” Yusuf answers. “What happened to you?” he asks Cobb who has what appears to be a dish towel tied around his arm.

Cobb waves him off. “It’s just a graze, looks worse than it is.”

“Nina’s should be here soon,” Arthur starts, noticing Ariadne’s facial expression change. “She’ll be able to give us a better idea of Eames’ condition and hopefully stitch him up, assuming there’s no internal damage.”

“What, here?” Ariadne says. “She’s going to assess for internal damage _here_?”

Yusuf nods. “Shouldn’t be too hard. If there was anything serious, he’d be dead by now. And anyway, I thought you’d be looking for any excuse to see Nina.”

Arthur hears footsteps on the stairs, and assuming it’s Nina, he hopes Ariadne doesn’t hear it yet.

“I- well…,” she stammers, struggling for a response. “Fuck you guys.”

“Who are we fucking?” Nina says from the bedroom door with the most perfect timing.  

Ariadne jumps and puts her hand over her heart, turning to face Nina. “How’d you get in here?”

“Um, through the wide-open front door? Come here, you,” Nina says, pulling Ari in for a hug. “Always a pleasure, Ariadne. Would you mind finding some towels for me?”

Nina takes the duffel bag off her shoulder and tosses it on the bed, leaving Ariadne with a shocked expression still on her face. “Mhmm,” she says before walking out of the room.

Arthur’s never seen someone render Ariadne speechless quite like that before.

Nina puts on a pair of gloves. “You guys are such idiots,” she says. “This ridiculous fucking rule of yours is going to get all of you killed.”

“Wonderful to see you too, Nina,” Cobb responds.

Arthur sees her roll her eyes. “I understand your aversion to hospitals and ambulances and the police because of what we do, but this—” she gestures at the mess that is Eames’ body— “is plain stupid.”

All the adrenaline and anger that was pushing Arthur forward, pushing his other emotions aside, seems to have run out because he is just noticing his sweaty palms, the terror in his stomach, and the panic attack starting to slowly build.

Eames could _die_.

Arthur has never thought of an Eames-less world because his world has always been so Eames-filled. It’s never been a possibility before now. Through the army, training, jobs, reality, and dreams, Eames has made his presence almost annoyingly known in Arthur’s life.

Arthur loves him, and maybe he doesn’t express it enough, but he does. Arthur uses “love” sparingly, and he doesn’t always find meaning in the word unless it’s referring to Eames. He loves Eames, has loved him for almost a year, and there’s no coming back from it.

What he can’t accept is that Eames could die right here in their bedroom where they’ve shared sleepless nights and tireless mornings together for the last three months. He can’t accept the fact that the next time he’ll be in this room, he could be spending sleepless night and tireless mornings alone.

Arthur’s vision has gone hazy, and he has to blink a few times to get reality to come back to him.

“Arthur?” he hears Nina say. “ _Arthur_ ,” she says more forcefully.

He looks in the direction of her voice. When did she get on the floor? When did she start working on Eames?

“Hmm?”

“Take some deep breaths for me. It’s not going to help Eames if you pass out.”

The edges are still a bit hazy, but Arthur can see Eames’ chest rise and fall. He never wants to stop watching Eames breathe.

“Do you want some water?” Ariadne asks from next to him.

When did she get back? When did she start rubbing circles into Arthur’s back? When did his eyes start to water?

Arthur clears his throat. “No, no, I’m fine. How’s Eames?” he asks Nina.

Nina goes back to wrapping bandages around Eames’ arm. “Considering the circumstances, he’s doing well. He’s not running a fever; his heart rate is normal. I’m a little worried that he’s still unconscious, but there was a lot of blood loss.”

“And knowing Eames, he probably tried to get up and fight back after he’d been shot,” Cobb said from the corner of the room, observing.

“Fuckin’ right I did.”

Arthur very nearly chokes on nothing but air and snaps his eyes down to Eames’. He’s convinced nothing will ever make him as happy as he is right now, seeing those open eyes staring back at him.  

Nina sets Eames’ arm back down at his side, and Eames wastes no time trying to prop himself up on his elbows. “Hi, love,” he says to Arthur.

“No,” Nina says, poking at his chest. “Lay back down.”

Eames grunts but obeys, and Arthur can’t stop staring.

“Lovely to see you, Nina,” Eames says, voice gravely and pain-ridden. “Did Yusuf not do a good enough job in keeping me alive?”

That damn smirk. He’s been shot three times, and he has a fucking smirk on his face. Arthur doesn’t know what to do with himself. No human being should have to deal with all of these emotions at once.

“Piss off, mate,” Yusuf mutters from the doorway. “I think I like you better unconscious.”

Eames full-on smiles. “Nonsense.”

“Yusuf did a damn good job in keeping you alive because he called me. Now, can you turn onto your left side? I have to clean out the wound in your thigh.” Eames gets on his side, clearly trying to avoid putting pressure on his arm. Nina, seeming satisfied with the new angle she has on the wound, looks at Arthur. “Help me out for a second?”

Arthur nods. “What can I do?”

Nina gives him a pained look. “Hold him still. This is going to hurt like a bitch. You’ll wish you were still unconscious, my friend.”

“Wonderful,” Eames mumbles.

Arthur sits on the floor between the bed and Eames. With one hand, he grabs hold of Eames’ ankle, and the other one rests on Eames’ hip. The two share a glance that speaks a thousand words, words Arthur can’t handle.

“Eames,” he breathes out.

Eames gives him a small smile. “You fell asleep at the warehouse, yeah?”

Arthur’s thoughts are rushing water and the control he had over them is the dam that is now broken. He opens his mouth to let the waterfall of apologies and regrets pour out, but he’s interrupted when Nina starts cleaning the wound.

Eames’ eyes squeeze shut, and his hand grips Arthur’s wrist. “Bloody fuckin’ ‘ell,” he says between clenched teeth.

Arthur quiets the waterfall of emotion and tightens his hold on Eames’ ankle to keep him from moving so much. He keeps the tight grip on him even after Eames has relaxed, and Arthur notices that Eames’ grip on his wrist doesn’t change, either.

“Okay, you can turn back over,” Nina says. “I just have to wrap up your leg, and then you should be good to go.”

Eames turns on his back, and he shifts himself toward Arthur so that he doesn’t have to let go of his hand.

Ariadne clears her throat. “Cobb and I were talking before that it’s clearly not safe for you guys to stay here anymore, at least not for a while.”

Cobb nods in agreement. “Arthur, where’s your backup?”

Arthur looks at him, confused. “What? I don’t – I’ve been living here.”

“Well, yes, that’s obvious, but don’t you have a backup place in case things like this happen?”

Arthur feels his heart drop. Dom Cobb is a fucking idiot because now Arthur is going to have to explain why the most organized, cautious person on their team doesn’t have a backup apartment.

He’s basically going to admit how much he loves Eames in front of everyone, including Eames, and Arthur is pretty sure it’s going to physically hurt him.

“I, um, I let the lease run out on my backup,” Arthur says quietly, looking only at Eames. “I didn’t think I’d need another place.” He shrugs his shoulders like it’s not a huge deal.

Arthur watches Eames’ eyes widen at his admission, something Arthur had been “forgetting” to mention to Eames for a few weeks. Arthur then watches everyone else’s expressions change. Nina had stopped wrapping up Eames’ leg but has as since continued with a small smile on her face. Cobb has a stern look on his face like he’s going to pull Arthur aside and scold him. Ariadne looks like she’s trying to contain a squeal. Yusuf rolls his eyes like he’s known the entire time.

Eames squeezes Arthur’s hand. “I have another place,” he offers to Cobb. “It’s more secure; we’ll be safer there.”

Arthur is grateful that Eames doesn’t say anything more, but he knows it won’t be that way for long.

“Alright, Eames, you’re all set,” Nina says, standing up. “Stay away from the somnacin for a few weeks, but otherwise you’ll be fine. I’m going to L.A. in two days, so call me if you need anything before that.”

Eames props himself up on his elbows again, and Nina doesn’t stop him this time. She leans down and gives him a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks, love, you’re a dream.”

“Yeah, thank you, Nina. Seriously,” Arthur says sincerely.

Nina nods. “I love you guys, but I hope I don’t have to see you for a very long time. Ariadne, walk me out?”

Ariadne’s head snaps up. “Yeah, definitely.”

The two leave the room, and Cobb gets a phone call shortly after, so he follows them out. Eames looks dramatically at Arthur. “What in the living fuck was that?”

“It seems that you don’t know everything after all,” Yusuf says, assisting Arthur in helping Eames stand up on his good leg.

“You don’t say.”

It takes a minute and lots of expletives, but Yusuf and Arthur help Eames past the dead bodies, down the stairs, past the other dead bodies, and outside to the car. Nina is already gone, and Ariadne is waiting for them, looking a lot happier than before. Cobb assures Arthur that the mess will be cleaned up and that he doesn’t have to worry about it.

Arthur does have to worry about it, though. He feels a responsibility to find whoever put the hit out on him and Eames and make them suffer a horrible, painful death. He doesn’t want Cobb to clean up the mess that Arthur caused in the first place. He has to do it himself, and he has to do it soon, before Eames finds out. 

Yeah, this will work out great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [tumblr!](http://iquitelikeagoodbook.tumblr.com/)


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